Rants & Raves: Portland State Edition

LARAMIE -- This one had all the makings of a blowout -- on paper and in person.

It was anything but.

Despite jumping out to a 21-7 lead, Wyoming let Portland State linger.

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Yes, the same FCS team that gave up 729 yards of total offense last week in an 81-7 blowout in Eugene. The same team that is playing 22 freshmen, seven of which were in high school at this time a year ago.

Leading by 23 heading into the fourth, Craig Bohl sat starting quarterback Andrew Peasley in favor of Evan Svoboda.

That wasn't the issue.

Running the ball 11 straight times for a grand total of five yards isn't exactly dropping a haymaker. The Vikings would march 54 yards on 11 plays, culminating with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Dante Chachere to Maclaine Griffin. On the visitor's final offensive drive, Chachere added another 10-yard scoring strike, this time connecting with Quincy Craig.

This was a seven-point ball game with just under a minute to go.

Or so we thought.

Portland State was hit with an illegal-formation penalty and a pair of incomplete passes put this one ice.

Wyoming 31
Portland State 17

Ride the social media rollercoaster with Wyoming fans from around the globe right here:

FIRST HALF

Sam Moore (Facebook) Heck yeah that's awesome to see a long pass for a td

Mark Hoeft (Facebook) I'm loving this balance on offense!

Deep strikes are setting up huge holes in the running game!

Todd Willis (Facebook) Not impressed with our defense giving up so many yards to the run game

SECOND HALF

James Mohrherr (Facebook) I wish they would have let Evan run a normal offense not sure how much he gained from only handing it off.

Stephen Anderson (Facebook) Running game looks bad to me.

Jay Shapiro (Facebook) A good win !! Need to clean up some offense and defense items and get ready for Texas !!

Chris Mcnees (Facebook) I’m fine with 31-10 but really the coaching staff really baffles me at luckily Portland state got a penalty that erased 7 points that would have made the game 31-24. The coach puts in the backup, doesn’t even give him a try to see how is arm is. What if we need him in big games when Peasley is hurt. Oh yeah we will squander the game by running the ball three times and punt just like we about did today. A good thing there wasn’t more time in the game.

Sonny Crockett (Facebook) Our running backs aren’t up to par yet. Fumbles and inconsistency. Bohl went Bohl at the end and seemed to just want to run clock and put all the pressure on our defense. We missed an opportunity to let our backup loose and put the hammer down. Bohl being Bohl…

Kevin Williams (Facebook) In the end it’s not gymnastics. No extra points for degree of difficulty. No player or coach is perfect, Not even TB12. Let’s enjoy being 2-0. BTW, check on the TT/Oregon game right now.

Duane Dearcorn (Facebook) In the second half, we came out and didn't play to win, we played not to lose, and it almost back fired. Or at least that's the way it appeared. Good win but not a confident one.

Tommy Weber (Facebook) Bohl just drops the bag every time, we never hammer down and just keep playing good ball. Taking QB1 out was smart but if you're going to sub in your younger Qb let him sling it a few times and give him some confidence, this running out the clock shit doesn't work here. If it weren't for a few calls it could've been a 1 possession game with plenty of time left. Falls on Bohl, 150% should've beat them by at least 30.

Rubel Vigil (Facebook) Sorry, but pulling Peasley out was the right thing to do. Why risk the injury.

Jason Ferguson (Facebook) I’m beginning to think it’s in Bohl’s contract he isn’t allowed to just go out and hammer a team they are supposed to hammer. And it doesn’t engender a lot of confidence they have a backup quarterback they have absolutely zero confidence in throwing the ball. A win is a win but it just felt waaaay to close, like every time they play one of these FCS teams. Just once I’d like to see them just step on their neck.

Tom Core (Facebook) Wow some of you guys absolutely don't understand leadership or how to build a team with an identity Glad you are passionate and clueless. Go Pokes.

UW vs. NIU September 11, 2021

Filed Under: Portland State, Rants and Raves, University of Wyoming Football

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